Cardiac CT gives emergency physicians the ability to predict major adverse cardiac events (MACE) in patients presenting with chest pain, according to a study published in the May issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Cardiac CT makes strong predictions of major heart trouble

18/May/2011

Data from the ROMICAT (Rule Out Myocardial Infarction Using Computer Assisted Tomography) trial show that cardiac CT has prognostic value, particularly in those at low to intermediate risk of acute coronary syndrome, according to Christopher L Schlett of Massachusetts General Hospital and colleagues in a paper in the May 2011 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Imaging.

"We found that if you have no CAD [coronary artery disease] by CCTA [cardiac CT angiography], you have 0% chance of having a major adverse cardiovascular event for at least two years; your prognosis is excellent," said senior author Quynh A Truong, MD.